Golden Dreamer
by Imaginationqueen87
Summary: Haruka's cousin has moved into the area, will she prove a tempting target for those who seek beautiful dreams? What makes her so unique... read and find out. [I have revised existing chapters with new detail so I do recommend re-reading them if you are coming back in for the new chapter as some details have been added and changed]
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own Sailor Moon

A/n: this is my first attempt in FOREVER to write a Sailor Moon fanfic. I just finished reading the Manga with the manga reader app on my new smart phone and thought I'd try my hand at writing it... Enjoy. This is set during Super S and favors the anime more than the manga

**Golden Dreamer**

Haruka sighed as the evening dragged on. She had been asked to play host to her cousin. It wasn't as if she minded having her cousin around, she loved her cousin she was just concerned that with the presence of the dead moon circus in Tokyo it wouldn't be safe for her cousin.

"Haruka, what's wrong?" Michiru asked as she placed a cup of tea in front of her partner.

"I've just got a lot on my mind, with my cousin coming to stay here"

"Tell me more about your cousin, what is she like"

"She's a really good girl, absolutely loves figure skating"

"Does she skate?"

"Yes, she's got so many medals and trophies that they can't display them all. When people see her wall of awards they are shocked when her mother tells them she is legally deaf" Haruka sighed "she lost most of her hearing in a major accident when she was six, I remember it was just after my eighth birthday"

"So she does talk"

"Yeah, she goes to a regular school due to the fact that she can use hearing aids. She can hear extremely loud sounds without her hearing aids but she can't hear a normal conversation without them. She also lip reads as she went to a primary school for the hearing impaired that taught her that"

"So what school is she going to?"

"Juuban Junior High"

"The same school as Usagi and her friends" Michiru smiled "maybe she'll get to meet them and become friends"

"That would be good, but she's a grade below them" Haruka sighed, "they could meet during lunch or some other time during the day"

"True" Michiru stopped talking for a moment, "you never told me her name you said she had the same surname as you, but not her given name"

"Oh… oops, her given name is Hana"

"How pretty" Michiru smiled as she heard a knock at the door

"That must be her"

Haruka opened the door to see her aunt standing at the door, her cousin; Hana was helping her father get her things out of the car.

"Haruka I wanted to thank you for opening your home to Hana"

"It's no problem, really, she's a great girl and deserves a good education" Haruka smiled

Michiru walked into the entryway

"So is this the beauty that has captured your heart, Haruka?"

"Yes, that is Michiru" Haruka could see the slight blush staining Michiru's face

"Haruka…!"

Haruka looked up just in time to see Hana headed her way

"Hana, you're getting so big"

"Look Haruka, I got the district gold at the senior level!" showing off the medal that she wore around her neck

"Congratulations, I told you that you could do it!" Haruka said as she hugged the fourteen-year-old girl

"Thank you" Hana stepped back and looked to Michiru for the first time

"Excuse me, I'm Ten'ou Hana"

"Kaioh Michiru"

"It's good to meet you" Hana smiled

They got Hana's things inside and Haruka showed Hana to the room where she would be sleeping. They then went to the living room to get to know each other better

"The art in here is beautiful," Hana said looking around at the many paintings in the room

"Thank you" Michiru said. "I painted them"

"You… oh wow!" Hana looked shocked

Michiru merely nodded

* * *

><p>The next day Hana was getting ready for School, she was nervous about going to a new school and she was curious, bordering on concerned, what would be in her lunch. Hana loved Haruka dearly but she also knew cooking wasn't one of her cousin's strengths. She arrived in the kitchen sporting her new uniform and noticed that her lunch was prepared already she then looked to Haruka.<p>

"Don't look at me… I just got out of the shower and it was done" Haruka said

Hana looked into the kitchen at Michiru

"Thank you"

Michiru smiled

"No problem, your mom gave me some tips on what you might like" Michiru said, "You look good in that uniform by the way"

"Thanks" Hana smiled

Hana, Haruka and Michiru headed out for the car, Haruka was going to drop Hana off before she and Michiru went to their high school

"See you after school, Hana… you have my phone number in case something comes up" Haruka said

"Okay, thanks for the ride"

"No problem, good luck"

"Thank you"

Haruka drove off and Hana headed inside only to find she was completely lost.

"Oh dear, where do I go… I'm glad I'm early," she muttered as she looked around nervously

"Are you lost?" a voice asked

"Yes" she replied

"I'm Mizuno Ami, I'm in the ninth grade what grade are you in?"

"I'm in eighth grade, my name is Ten'ou Hana it's good to meet you"

"You're new here aren't you?" Ami asked

"Ami, what's going on?" a voice asked

"Makoto, this is Hana, I'm going to show her to her class" Ami smiled as the both went to the lockers and changed over their shoes to the ones they were supposed to wear inside the school. They then went to the eighth grade area.

"Are you related to Ten'ou Haruka by any chance?"

"She's my cousin, why?"

"Just curious, I met her a while back and Ten'ou isn't a common last name so I thought I'd ask," Ami paused "you're in class one correct?"

"Yes, it's right over there" Hana said as she noticed the sign

"Miss Mizuno, what are you doing in this area?" a voice asked

"I'm just helping a new student find her classroom" Ami replied

"Ah… okay Miss Mizuno, I shouldn't have been so suspicious of you, you were always so well behaved in my class"

"Thank you, Mizuno" Hana said with a polite bow

"No problem" Ami smiled

Hana entered the classroom and took a seat to wait for class to begin; she then took out a book and began to read.

"Oh, hello, I haven't seen you here before" a woman said, Hana looked up to see the teacher standing by the black board. Hana knew this was Ms. Haruna her homeroom teacher. "What is your name?"

"Ten'ou Hana, Ms. Haruna I came early today for a reason other than the fact that I wanted to make sure I was in your class on time… I need to give you this note from my mother. I lost the majority of my hearing in an accident when I was small so mom thought it was best she sent a note explaining why I might have difficulties sometimes." Hana said, "I wear hearing aids and if the batteries get low I sometimes have a hard time hearing, but I can lip read in case they go completely out, but I will do my best not to let that happen"

Haruna looked over the note and nodded to Hana

"I always carry spare batteries in my school bag in case I need to change them out during school." Hana said "but that is also explained in the letter"

"Thank you, Hana for bringing this to my attention, I will spread the word to the other teachers about your condition, but telling your classmates will be up to you"

"You're welcome Ms. Haruna" Hana sighed

"Miss Ten'ou, according to this without your hearing aids you are legally deaf, is that true?"

"Yes ma'am, I am lucky to have what little hearing I have without the hearing aids… the neurologist said it was nothing short of a miracle that I didn't lose 100% of my hearing."

Class began and Hana seemed to have no problem keeping up with her teachers. Lunchtime came around and she decided to sit outside to eat lunch. She opened her lunch and couldn't hide her grin it was her favorite lunch.

Ami looked over to where Hana sat by herself

"What's wrong Ami?" Makoto asked

"She's all alone" Ami said and before Ami could say the rest of what she wanted to say Usagi was up and headed towards Hana

"Ooo that looks tasty!" Usagi said

"It is" Hana said

"Oh, excuse me where are my manners, I'm Tsukino Usagi"

"Ten'ou Hana"

"Come on… sit with me and my friends"

"Are you sure?" Hana asked

"Yeah, come on" Usagi said with a smile

Hana went with Usagi and soon was sitting with her and her friends. They spoke for a while the topic first touching on Hana's surname of Ten'ou and her revealing to the other girls that Haruka was in fact her cousin.

"So Hana, did Haruka drive you to school today?" Ami asked

"Yes, she did…" Hana said

The wind caught Hana's hair and Ami gasped.

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

"What is that in your ear?" Ami asked

"It… it's a hearing aid… I have over ninety percent hearing loss due to an accident that happened when I was six" Hana sighed

"Oh wow, so you probably only barely remember a time when you didn't need hearing aids" Makoto said

"That's true, but Haruka remembers the accident like it was yesterday… mama told me that Haruka had really bad nightmares after the accident and blamed herself that I lost my hearing, she felt there was more that she could have done"

"Was there?"

"She was eight at the time, there wasn't anything she could have done… she did, however learn how to communicate with me quicker than anyone else in the family… doctors say it was due to her young age." Hana sighed, "It took a lot to convince Haruka there wasn't anything else she could have done to keep me from getting hurt"

Meanwhile at the dead moon circus Tiger-eye, Fish-eye and Hawk-eye were looking at pictures of potential targets.

"I can't believe we've been at this for weeks and so far we've found not a single sign of Pegasus," Fish-Eye said taking a swig of her martini

"I think I just found a very promising candidate," Tiger-eye said as he held up a picture of a teenaged girl in a figure skater's costume and skates with a gold medal around her neck

Hana arrived home from school with a big smile on her face

"Hana what has you so excited?" Haruka asked

"I made some new friends, they're upperclassmen" Hana smiled "They even gave me their phone numbers"

"Wow, it sounds like you had a good first day." Michiru smiled brightly. They had been concerned about Hana and what kind of reaction she would get from her classmates so to find out she had made friends eased their minds greatly.

"One of the girls said she knows you… her name was Mizuno Ami"

"Ami… yeah, I met her a year ago, she's nice so are her friends" Haruka said.

* * *

><p>A month passed and Hana began to get closer to Usagi, Ami and Makoto she had met Rei but wasn't as close to her as she was the ones she saw at school.<p>

Haruka sighed, she had a bad feeling that getting Hana into Juuban wasn't the only reason her aunt and uncle send Hana to her.

"Aunt Chinami, tell me the truth, what is going on with Hana?"

"Nothing, it is me… my issues are the reason I sent Hana to stay with you, she trusts and confides in you, Haruka and she's going to need a confidant during this time because… Haruka, I have advanced stage ovarian cancer."

Haruka nearly dropped the phone

"Damn it, what am I supposed to tell Hana?" Haruka demanded

"Haruka please don't talk like that." Chinami said referring to the swear word that had slipped from Haruka when she heard the news. "You're supposed to tell her the truth; like you always have, if there is anything I wouldn't want it is for you to lose the trust that Hana has placed in you Haruka. She has looked up to you for so long I would never ask you to give her a reason to doubt you" Chinami sighed softly it felt good to tell Haruka the truth of the situation. "Hana tells me that Michiru is a good cook and she is happy with you. I'm glad she's happy."

"I hope you get better soon Aunt Chinami"

"I hope so to Haruka"

After Haruka got off the phone, she leaned back in her chair. How was she supposed to break this to Hana? Why did she have to give Hana the bad news? This was the first time Haruka could remember truly wishing she were old enough to drink.

Hana entered the house and took off her shoes at the door, switching them out for the slippers Michiru had given her as a welcome present. She then went into the living room where Haruka was sitting.

"Haruka, I have a question and I need you to be honest with me, dad acts like he doesn't know the answer and mom just avoids the question, so I need you to tell me the truth." Hana said

"I'll tell you what I know"

"Is there something wrong with my mother, and if so what" Hana asked

"Hana, sit down" Haruka said

"Is it that bad?" Hana asked nervously

"Hana, your mother has cancer"

"No… no this can't be true, Haruka please tell me this isn't true!" Hana begged but Haruka couldn't tell her that

"I'm afraid it is true"

Hana began to cry and Haruka hugged her close a new sense of helplessness washing over the older woman. She was the senshi of the sky, Sailor Uranus one of the strongest sailor senshi but there was nothing she could do to help her own family.

"I'm sorry, Hana, I'm so sorry" Haruka whispered into her cousin's hair

Michiru looked into the living room from the kitchen, she didn't know what was going on but she had a bad feeling about it especially when she saw the tears glistening in her partner's eyes. She also heard Hana sobbing into Haruka's shirt and knew something bad was going on in the Ten'ou family.

Michiru didn't go into the living room, she figured this was a family issue and Haruka would tell her about it later.

After a while Hana calmed down and went in her room, presumably, to call her mother and Michiru approached her partner

"I shouldn't have had to tell her that!" Haruka said, "Damn it!"

"Haruka… calm down and talk to me" Michiru said her voice soft "what happened? What did you have to tell Hana?"

"Her mother has cancer and her mother couldn't tell her so she basically made me do it!" Haruka said tears forming twin streams down her cheeks.

Michiru hugged her lover gently

"I'm sorry, Haruka, you shouldn't have been the one to tell her that." Michiru whispered as Haruka took her turn to cry. She had waited until Hana couldn't see her break down.

Hana ran into her room grabbed the phone and began to dial; she hadn't even realized who she had called.

"Mizuno residence"

"Mrs. Mizuno, may I speak with Ami please?"

"Of course, may I ask who is calling?"

"Ten'ou Hana"

"Okay, Hana, hold on"

Within a few moments Ami came to the phone

"Ami, I just got some really bad news and I needed to talk to someone…"

"What is it?"

"My… my mom has cancer," Hana said tears pouring down her cheeks again.

"I'm on my way; I can get Mako and Usagi if you like"

"No, don't bother them… I shouldn't have bothered you"

"Hana, I'm coming over there, you sound like you need a friend right now, I'll be there in a few minutes, okay"

"Okay, Ami, thank you."

"Don't worry about it, this is what friends do for each other."

Ami sighed as she got off the phone and started towards her front door in a hurry.

"What is it, Ami?" her mother asked

"My friend Hana just called, she just found out her mother has cancer, I'm going to go be with her for a while, she sounded pretty distraught she could really use a friend right now"

"Okay Ami, be careful"

"I will" Ami replied

It only took a few minutes for Ami to arrive at the home Haruka, Michiru and Hana all three shared. She rang the doorbell and Michiru answered the door

"Ami, come in, what brings you here?" Michiru said

"Hana called me, she sounded quite distressed and I thought she could use a friend so I came running over" Ami explained

"She is in her room," Michiru said but stopped Ami before she could go to the room "I want to thank you for coming to Hana's aid so quickly. She's going to need friends like you in the coming months. Her mother's has stage-four cancer and, while she is fighting it, they aren't sure she'll make it." Haruka had gotten a call from her uncle giving her more details on the situation but at this point Haruka was in no fit state to talk to anyone.

"It's no problem, Michiru, she's my friend and I'll always be here if she needs me." Ami replied.

Ami noticed Haruka sitting on the couch. She looked as if she had been crying, but Ami didn't point out that she noticed. Haruka's aunt might be dying of cancer so she understood if the elder girl shed a few tears.

Hana was hugging her pillow and crying when Ami came into the room.

"Hana" Ami said gently, she pulled her friend into a tender embrace and Hana returned the embrace

"What am I supposed to do, Ami?" Hana demanded in tears

"I don't know, Hana… I really don't know" Ami replied holding her friend near as she cried

To Be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3

Anything like -this- is signed.

* * *

><p>Haruka watched as Hana went through her warmup. It had been less than twenty-four hours since Haruka had been forced to give her cousin the crushing news about her mother and Haruka still in some way hated her aunt for making her be the bearer of that bad news.<p>

Hana tried her best to push her mother's condition out of her mind as she went through the motions of her warmup. She was really angry with her mother, she would have hoped that her mother would have been able to stand in front of her and tell her what was going on and explain why she had thought it was best for her to move in with Haruka rather than staying at home.

'Hana I am so sorry' Haruka thought miserably 'You should have heard all of that from your mother, not me.'

Haruka sighed as Hana tried a triple flip and popped a single instead, it was clear that what she had heard about her mother was weighing on her mind and heart.

"Hana, what is going on?" her coach asked oblivious to the bad news Hana had received.

Hana skated up to her coach.

"I've just got a lot on my mind." She admitted not saying anything about her mother's condition.

"Don't worry so much, Hana I'm sure everything will be fine." The coach assured her as a male with long blonde hair approached them.

Haruka couldn't explain it but something about this man rubbed her the wrong way. He introduced himself as Hiroto Kenji but Haruka had a bad feeling that wasn't his name.

Haruka approached them as Hana went back on the ice to practice her routine for an upcoming competition.

"Haruka, this is my assistant Kenji." The coach said, "I hired him recently."

"It's good to meet you" Haruka replied politely, doing her best to hide her suspicions of this man. She looked out on the ice just in time to see Hana fall and slide into the boards. She became extremely concerned when Hana took several moments before even attempting to rise from the ice.

As soon as Hana made eye contact with Haruka, the older girl started using sign to ask if she were okay.

-I'm fine, Haruka- Hana signed –I just might have a few new bruises.-

Haruka looked relieved as Hana stepped of the ice so they could check her out.

"You've defiantly got some new bruises but you should be fine." The coach sighed "Hana you need to get your head on the ice before we can really work on this." He sighed "Take fifteen minutes, go get some fresh air and see if you can get your head in order."

"Okay" Hana went into the dressing room and put on an old tee shirt that originally belonged to Haruka so it covered up most of her skater dress, some shorts and a pair of street shoes and walked outside to the nearby fountain to try and collect her thoughts.

"Why, mama, why couldn't you tell me you had this disease?" she wondered. "Why did you make Haruka tell me of the horrors you will have to face?"

"I'm sorry to hear about your mother." A voice said.

Hana turned around startled by what she had heard.

"Kenji, you scared me."

"You're right to be angry; your mother should have had the courage to tell you what was wrong with her."

"I can't imagine what she's going through, maybe it's better I live with Haruka, so I don't have to watch her fall apart"

"Perhaps" He shrugged "You know what you said earlier about me scaring you, that was good instincts, should be scared of me" a cruel smile crossed his face "My name isn't Kenji, it's Tiger's-eye"

Hana gasped and stumbled backwards as a whip formed in Tiger's-eye's hand and he cracked it causing a fabric screen to appear long enough for his outfit to magically change then vanished in a puff of smoke.

"One…"

Hana backed up with the intentions of running away but suddenly felt a strange board at her back.

"…two…"

Cuffs came out of the board and secured her wrists and ankles to the board at her back.

"…three"

Haruka had walked out to check on Hana and could only watch helplessly as the dream mirror pulled out of Hana's chest as she screamed in pain and fear. Haruka had heard what happened when one of the members of the circus attacked she had just never seen it with her own eyes before now. She had thought her foes had been bad; this was worse, more torturous and frightening for the victim. Haruka pulled out her transformation pen and said a silent prayer that the thing would work before attempting to transform.

"Uranus Planet Power, Make Up!"

To Haruka's relief it worked she stepped out as the horrid man began to plunder into Hana's dream. Muttering about gold medals and Olympic games, things Hana dreamed of.

"HOLD IT!" she cried out the anger in her voice unmistakable.

He pulled his head out casually then became surprised when he didn't see anyone he recognized.

"And who are you supposed to be."

"Guided by a new age, I am Sailor Uranus…"

"Sailor Uranus I've never heard of you" he interrupted.

"And you're going to wish you never had." She replied her jewel encrusted sword fitting all too comfortably in her hand as she charged her sister's attacker fully prepared to remove his head from his shoulders.

A monster appeared between them and Haruka slid to a stop cursing in frustration before going into combat with the new arrival. This wasn't going to be her day. She had sent a distress signal over the communicators in hopes Michiru would get the message but to her shock others showed up first.

"Let's see what this dream is all about…" Tiger's-eye mused all too casually which was like throwing gasoline on the fire that was Haruka's temper. She attacked with her sword but the monster seemed ready for this.

"Damn it!" she muttered as she found herself pushed back, this was bad.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

Haruka jumped back as the attacks landed and put her in a position to attack as well, she looked to see Sailors Jupiter, Mercury, Moon and Chibi Moon standing nearby. Their arrival made Tiger's-Eye worried, apparently he had seen them many times and lost to them. He baled declaring Hana wasn't who they were looking for and ordering the monster to destroy the dream mirror and kill Hana. They went into their typical introduction and Tiger's-eye looked bored

"Sailor Uranus…!" Moon seemed shocked to see her.

"Moon, not now!" Jupiter scolded.

Chibi Moon and Moon took little time in dispatching the enemy and turned their attention to Hana. Haruka had noticed that the mirror had returned to Hana's body and she had fallen to the ground unconscious when the board at her back vanished.

Moon was rather surprised when Uranus gathered the young victim into her arms.

"She's fine, Haruka, she just fainted," Mercury assured the older girl gently, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"I know… I just can't believe I let this happen." Haruka replied as all of the girls, Haruka included, transformed back to their normal outfits not even thinking of the few seconds in that time when they were all completely nude. Haruka was just glad to have rescued Hana from the attacker, and have the younger girl safe in her arms.

"Haruka there was no way you could have known this would happen." Makoto (Sailor Jupiter) said dropping to her knees by where Haruka sat holding Hana in a half sitting, half-laying position.

"I had a bad feeling about him, but I didn't listen to my instincts," Haruka growled quietly and it was becoming apparent that there was little to nothing the younger scouts could say to change Haruka's opinion on the situation or convince her to quit blaming herself.

To Be Continued…


	4. Chapter 4

The girls looked up as Michiru arrived; they were shocked that they had arrived before Michiru whom they assumed would have gotten a distress beacon from Haruka. Turn out she had but circumstances beyond her control had kept the violinist from responding to her lover's cry for help in as timely a manner as she would have liked.

"'Ruka, what happened?" she asked coming to Haruka's side. She could see the anger in Haruka's eyes and knew that her lover had begun to blame herself for what had just happened.

Makoto moved to allow the older girl to take a position by her lover. They all assumed that if anyone could help them convince Haruka she was not to blame in this mess it was Michiru.

"Michi, I should have been able to stop them, I should have been able to protect her."

"Haruka, we don't know these opponents, we don't know how they work or think. We have no clue how they pick their targets so we couldn't have known what would happen." Michiru corrected gently.

The girls couldn't deny that there was something between Haruka and Michiru that was beyond a mere friendship, and it became abundantly clear as Michiru put her arm around Haruka's shoulders and Haruka took the moment to rest her head on Michiru's shoulder. Michiru knew Haruka felt guilty about what was going on with her cousin, from the moment she was forced to tell Hana about her mother Haruka had been even more protective of her.

"Had I just listened to my own instincts, this wouldn't have happened!" Haruka protested sounding quite angry with herself.

"We don't know that, 'Ruka, for all we know that would have been prolonging the inevitable, these monsters are relentless and we should know that." Michiru pointed out running her fingers through Haruka's short blonde hair.

This statement seemed to calm Haruka a bit but what really eased her mind is when Hana began to stir and awaken.

"Haruka… what happened?" she asked her voice weak and hoarse from screaming.

Haruka sat up on her own and pulled Hana into an embrace, which she returned but seemed slightly confused by.

Usagi and Makoto just seemed confused by the whole deal with Haruka and Hana, they knew Haruka and Hana were related but they had never seen Haruka acting the way she was towards Hana. Ami knew what was going on but kept quiet, truthfully this wasn't her secret to tell.

They were sitting there for several minutes before Haruka guided Hana to stand up.

The younger scouts started to leave.

"Mako, Usagi, and Ami could you girls meet me later…?" She asked

"Sure, Hana, where and when…?" Makoto asked

"Our house at about 3" Haruka said "Ami knows where that is. You might want to bring Mina as well."

Ami nodded as the girls left.

"We'll be there" she assured the older girls as they walked away.

"What do I tell them?" Hana asked Haruka her voice shaky.

"The truth, they will be there for you if they know what you're going through, Hana" Haruka assured her. "It may not be easy, but you'll feel better afterwards."

Hana smiled as Haruka embraced her again.

"You know I'm always here for you." Haruka whispered.

"I know, Haruka, thank you."

"You don't have to thank me, Hana," Haruka smiled as Michiru placed a hand on Hana's shoulder.

* * *

><p>The four younger girls showed up promptly at 3 pm, even Mina and Usagi were on time for once in their lives.<p>

"Ami, do you know what's going on?" Makoto asked looking to her friend in confusion. The girls were worried about what caused Haruka to invite them all to her home as she had never done this before.

"It's not my place to say." Ami replied as they entered the house politely removing their shoes as they entered.

Usagi was the first to see Hana sitting with Haruka, she looked extremely nervous and Haruka was doing her best to be reassuring for the younger girl.

"Hana, are you okay?" Makoto asked.

"I really don't know, Mako, so much has happened in the past few days…" she sighed looking away as fresh tears made their way, unhindered, down her cheeks.

Ami noticed Haruka chewing at her lip, she remembered seeking the older woman, her eyes red and puffy from crying, it was not something she was likely to forget. She had always thought of the outer girls, especially Haruka, as being so strong and self-assured, to see one of them broken down the way she had that day had hit her hard.

"Yesterday I… I found out my mother has stage 4 cancer." Hana told them.

The girls looked shocked and no matter how many times Ami heard it she still couldn't wrap her head around it. It was too horrible to even want to believe was true, but she knew Hana well enough to know she wouldn't lie to them.

Haruka wasn't surprised when Usagi hugged Hana tightly as the younger girl began to sob; the other girls soon gathering around Usagi and Hana, offering their support and comfort where it was obviously needed.

'I knew they would be good for her.' Haruka thought as she watched this display of love and friendship from the tight-knit inner scout group. They had obviously accepted Hana among them with the ease she had hoped for from the moment she learned Hana had met Ami.

"Don't worry Hana, we're always here for you." Makoto offered gently.

"Yes, and there is always hope you mom can fight this, she can still win." Ami supplied. Haruka made eye contact with the younger girl trying to read if she were being truthful that there was a chance for Chinami or if she were just trying to life Hana's spirits, or maybe both. Haruka couldn't tell. Ami was playing everything a little too close to her chest for Haruka's liking.

* * *

><p>Time passed and Chinami only seemed to get worse. She was fighting but things weren't looking good.<p>

That particular day Michiru had come to Hana's practice along with Haruka.

"Haruka I need to speak to you and Michiru" a male voice said.

Haruka looked to see her uncle standing there his expression read that the news was grim.

"Uncle Hiro, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Not here," he sighed turning to walk away from the couple "Follow me."

They went into another room.

"I need you girls to tell me honestly, did my wife tell Hana about her disease?" he asked.

Haruka bit her lip and shook her head.

"Then who told Hana?" he asked.

"I did," a note of anger edging into Haruka's tone as she admitted the truth to her uncle

"That's what I thought," he sighed, "I'm sorry Haruka, she shouldn't have done that to you and I won't put the weight of giving Hana more bad news onto you."

"What happened?" Michiru asked.

"Chinami died this morning." He said

Haruka felt as if her very element had betrayed her as it felt like ever molecule of air had been sucked from her lungs. She couldn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it. She knew this would kill Hana, she and her mother had been so close. It tore her up just hearing about it as recently she had grown closer to Chinami than she was her own mother. It seemed Chinami had embraced her lifestyle choice and welcomed Michiru into the family as if she were always meant to be there. Now Chinami was gone and Haruka felt her heart breaking.

She turned away from her uncle and her lover and came to rest her right arm against the wall then bury her face in that arm. She was trying to collect herself as she didn't want to believe this was true. She felt a soft touch on her body, one hand resting on her back the other on her right side, she knew that touch without looking, it was Michiru. She then felt Michiru rest her forehead on her shoulder blade.

"Ruka, we both knew there was a chance this could happen" she sighed. Haruka could hear the tears in her lover's voice.

"Yes, Michi, but knowing it could happen and finding out it did are two different things." Haruka replied turning to embrace her lover who welcomed her into her arms.

"I'm so sorry, my love," Michiru whispered.

Haruka made eye contact with Hiro. She knew he would tell Hana.

"Haruka?" it was Hana calling for her from the other room.

Haruka slipped out of Michiru's embrace, her face tearstained.

"Uncle Hiro, please… I can't let her see me this way." Haruka begged at a whisper.

Hiro nodded and intercepted his daughter.

"Where is Haruka?"

"Don't worry about her, she'll be fine." Hiro told her.

"But Papa, I want to see her" Hana protested, Haruka was sure she saw the sorrow in her father's eyes. "Later, Hana, I have some news for you." He pushed Hana into another room and closed the door behind them.

After a few minutes of hushed conversation Haruka heard Hana begin to sob uncontrollably. She was begging her father to tell her that what she had just heard wasn't true and Haruka knew this had to be the single hardest thing Hiro ever had to do. She once again felt her heart shatter into a million pieces, she had wanted to protect Hana, she had not been able to protect Hana during the accident and she wasn't able to protect her now. What few knew was Haruka was there when the accident took place, she had the scars to prove it.

To Be Continued…


End file.
